Merry Christmas!... a reflection on 2025 and where we are at,
from Silvia Purdie |
|
Well folks, we've made it to the 1st of December 2025.
In the Christian liturgical calendar this is the start of the new year, a space of waiting, expectancy, hope. For those of us who work in community and mental health, December might be a chance to wind down and relax, but the needs and pressures feel relentless. For those of us who care deeply about climate change, 2025 has been a depressing year. We are keenly aware of lost opportunity, failed action just when it mattered most, hope diminished. It is no comfort to be able to say “I told you so” in the storms and crises we know are coming.
This year we have nurtured a loose network around the kaupapa of ‘climate mental health’. We have a data base of 364 people. We have a website.
We held 9 events this year, which was massive!
https://www.climatementalhealth.nz/webinar-recordings.html
It feels good to list these. I achieved what I set out to achieve this year and I am hugely grateful for the amazing people who presented and tuned in. There is amazing content in all this.
I’m just not at all clear about what we do next.
Where to in 2026?
At our network meeting we identified two priorities:
So what’s the problem?
The weirdest thing for me is the way that global warming has slipped further and further into the background of NZ society, even as we are ever more clear about the consequences. The most frustrating thing is to know that vast sums of money are being spent globally by corporations with exactly that aim – not to deny climate change as much as to make it functionally irrelevant.
We have now reached the shared psychological state known as “yeah yeah whatever”. Actually I just made that up, but you know what I mean. My clinical assessment is that the vast majority of Kiwis have a baseline level of anxiety about the future, including future disasters & rising tides, but successfully bury that under everything else. So the impact of climate change on mental health is both less and more at the same time.
In the face of pervasive dissociation and thought-blocking on the subject, I honour anyone who creates the cognitive and emotional capacity to engage with climate change. I especially honour all those of you who work with people. It is hard to include climate crisis in conversations. I confess I’m not very good at it myself. I love that I know people who are amazing at it, like James Renwick just keeping on keeping on, and our friends in the Pacific for whom there is far more at stake.
I believe that we need a community of practice within the community & mental health sectors which is encouraging and resourcing climate response at a ‘hearts and minds’ level. I remind myself that it is OK that this feels hard and unclear right now. We have been that community this year, and I am grateful to you for connecting in.
May this Christmas season bring you true moments of peace and resilient hope. I hope for a good summer, while holding my fears of scorching heat and forest fire. I guess we prepare for the worst and take the good days as blessing.
May you be loved and encouraged, rested and restored.
Arohanui,
Silvia Purdie
Co-ordinator, Climate Mental Health Aotearoa
In the Christian liturgical calendar this is the start of the new year, a space of waiting, expectancy, hope. For those of us who work in community and mental health, December might be a chance to wind down and relax, but the needs and pressures feel relentless. For those of us who care deeply about climate change, 2025 has been a depressing year. We are keenly aware of lost opportunity, failed action just when it mattered most, hope diminished. It is no comfort to be able to say “I told you so” in the storms and crises we know are coming.
This year we have nurtured a loose network around the kaupapa of ‘climate mental health’. We have a data base of 364 people. We have a website.
We held 9 events this year, which was massive!
- Climate distress for Christian counsellors, an online talk by myself (January)
- Fear for the future: an in-person session on Climate Anxiety by Professor Niki Harre in Auckland (March)
- Hope without hiding: sustaining optimism and courage in the climate crisis,
an interview with Professor James Renwick, in Wellington (April) - We heard the voice of Māori & Pacific youth in two online sessions, ‘Mate Whenua Mate Tangata’, in partnership with NZAEE (Assn of Environmental Educators) and Future Unity (May)
- Dr Ravinda Prajapati presented from Suva, from the University of the South Pacific, on 'Mental health in the Pacific, and the impacts of climate change' (June). This lead to further conversations and growing relationships.
- ‘Ask a Climate Scientist!’ with Nava Fedaeff from NIWA (now Earth Sciences NZ) (July)
- Some of us completed Climate Café training from Psychology for a Safe Climate in Australia and ran one online café.
- A network meeting to report and plan (September)
- NZ’s first Climate Psychology Research Forum (November)
https://www.climatementalhealth.nz/webinar-recordings.html
It feels good to list these. I achieved what I set out to achieve this year and I am hugely grateful for the amazing people who presented and tuned in. There is amazing content in all this.
I’m just not at all clear about what we do next.
Where to in 2026?
At our network meeting we identified two priorities:
- to do a shared visioning process to clarify our purpose as a growing community and potential organisation. There was little energy to do this online, so we are planning an in-person visioning session in Auckland on Saturday 14 February.
- to offer a series of burnout prevention workshops to the wider community, especially for those in conservation and climate action
- Plus the Research Forum decided to meet again in May, to share and promote research and the climate psychology space.
So what’s the problem?
The weirdest thing for me is the way that global warming has slipped further and further into the background of NZ society, even as we are ever more clear about the consequences. The most frustrating thing is to know that vast sums of money are being spent globally by corporations with exactly that aim – not to deny climate change as much as to make it functionally irrelevant.
We have now reached the shared psychological state known as “yeah yeah whatever”. Actually I just made that up, but you know what I mean. My clinical assessment is that the vast majority of Kiwis have a baseline level of anxiety about the future, including future disasters & rising tides, but successfully bury that under everything else. So the impact of climate change on mental health is both less and more at the same time.
In the face of pervasive dissociation and thought-blocking on the subject, I honour anyone who creates the cognitive and emotional capacity to engage with climate change. I especially honour all those of you who work with people. It is hard to include climate crisis in conversations. I confess I’m not very good at it myself. I love that I know people who are amazing at it, like James Renwick just keeping on keeping on, and our friends in the Pacific for whom there is far more at stake.
I believe that we need a community of practice within the community & mental health sectors which is encouraging and resourcing climate response at a ‘hearts and minds’ level. I remind myself that it is OK that this feels hard and unclear right now. We have been that community this year, and I am grateful to you for connecting in.
May this Christmas season bring you true moments of peace and resilient hope. I hope for a good summer, while holding my fears of scorching heat and forest fire. I guess we prepare for the worst and take the good days as blessing.
May you be loved and encouraged, rested and restored.
Arohanui,
Silvia Purdie
Co-ordinator, Climate Mental Health Aotearoa